Lily was found as a stray wandering the streets of the city of Leeds with a foal at foot. Luckily, Hope Pastures rescue centre was called to help out. They both arrived at the centre very frightened about everything but the foal soon built trust, confidence and joy and was rehomed successfully shortly after weaning. […]
Build Trust with a Rescued Pony Read More »
If your horse suffers from separation anxiety, it’s all down to the PANIC system in the brain. As a herd animal, the instinct to stay with other horses is incredibly strong, even in adults. This video explains this brain system and how it impacts your relationship and training with your horse. The PANIC system differs
Don’t Leave Me! – 5. The PANIC System Read More »
Thank goodness there are wonderful people across the globe rescuing horses, ponies and donkeys in need. The first stage is supporting physical recovery. The next stage of emotional recovery can be a longer and trickier process and is where Connection Training can really make a difference. Hope and Valiente were two severely neglected ponies in Spain.
Training Rescued Ponies: From Fear to Fun Read More »
So far, I’ve looked at the feel-good brain systems of SEEKING, CARE and PLAY. Now it’s time to delve into the more aversive brain systems, starting with FEAR. Horses, as flight animals, have strong FEAR systems. This comes out in training as anxiety, spooking, bolting and more. So, what’s actually going on and how can
Run For it! – 4. The FEAR System Read More »
Young horses can find wearing a halter and leadrope pretty scary at first and can panic and pull back and fight against it. Which is exactly what this lovely 3 yo mare was doing… Until reward-based training made it clear and fun for her! It was a bit of a challenge – I was given
How to Teach Your Horse to Lead Read More »
In this video, I look at the PLAY system, what play is to horses and how you can use it in your training sessions to make your training more effective and joyful for both of you. This builds on the SEEKING and CARE systems covered in previous videos. You can watch all the videos in
Having Fun – 3. The PLAY System Read More »
There’s often a particular horse who drives the search for finding another way to train and connect and overcome problems. For me, that horse was Toby. He started showing lots of problem behaviours early on in our relationship such as bolting, bucking, refusing to jump, not loading and so on. He really pushed me to
Problems to Performance – Hannah and Toby’s Story Read More »
This video is all about understanding what goes on in the brain when your horse is building relationships, both with you and his pasture mates. How can you use this to strengthen your connection and build your relationship together? Watch this video to find out… (If you haven’t watched the first in this series, yet,
Making Connections – 2. The CARE System Read More »
Ever wondered how your horse’s emotions affect your training? In this video, Rachel explains what makes horses curious, enthusiastic and happy to learn. This is the first in a series of 7 in which Rachel will explore the full range of your horse’s core emotions. Find out how a great emotional connection is the key
The Way Horses Feel: 1. Living the Good Life – The SEEKING System Read More »
I LOVE this technique. It is so useful for so many situations and I have used it again and again over the years (and so many other people have told me how useful they find it, too!). The most common reasons to use it are: > Leading problems such as bargey, exploding, cutting in front
Around a Round Pen – For Leading and Lunging Read More »
Have you ever wanted to know: How your horse’s head position influences his whole movement? What head position you should be asking for? How to train it without force or gadgets? Well, you’ve come to the right place because these were the questions I also wanted to know the answers to! After years of watching,
Think this is just for the dressage folk? Think again – this stuff is for you! Of course, if you are a dressage’y person, you’ll know it’s for you, but even if you just want to tootle round the block on your pony, making sure he’s supple, strong and engaged will keep him sound and
How to Teach Shoulder-in and Haunches-in: At Liberty, In-hand and Ridden! Read More »
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